“Smart-ass,” I muttered.
Nate caught sight of me and twisted so I could see Katty’s peaceful little sleeping face. “Too much excitement for this one.”
One look at her was all it took for the knot in my chest to unfurl. “She fell asleep on you?”
“She did.” He carefully brushed a curl off her forehead. “Don’t worry, she watched most of the match. I think it was a combination of the snacks and cheering for her Benny that did her in.”
“Cool.” I watched with horror as Murphy took his phone out of his pocket and Mazzy kept smiling at him. They were getting along so swimmingly, neither of them seemed to have noticed me.
Absolutely not.
“I’ll be right back. I need to take care of this.”
Nate laughed under his breath as I strolled over to the mother of my child and my teammate. Murphy had his phone turned toward her, and she was studying the screen like it was oh so interesting.
Which I highly doubted. Murphy wasn’t interesting. He was the most dull human on the face of the planet. He was beige in human form.
Sure,somemight’ve found him handsome. And sure, he was tall, dark, and chiseled. But so was most of the team. So wasI, and I came with better hair and a winning personality—something Murphy distinctly lacked.
Beige all around.
I stopped in front of them, my hands carefully tucked in the pockets of my jeans. “Well hello, you two.”
Mazzy jumped, blinking up at me. “Hey. I was beginning to think you were never coming out.” Then she gave my arm a light slug. “Great job out there. You did a lot of clobbering and running fast with that ball. Heads were smashed and points were scored. It was very impressive—especially while wearing the tiniest shorts.”
Murphy chuckled. “I was just showing Mazz the Rhinos’ uniform.”
Her eyebrows waggled. “Practically thongs. I’m surprised they don’t get fined for indecency.”
So, he hadn’t been exchanging numbers with her. Unless he already had her number…
I cleared my throat. “I’m glad you were able to find something about the match to keep you entertained.”
“Oh, it was all entertaining. That was the first game or match I’ve ever watched all the way through.”
Murphy rolled his wrist and bowed. “Happy to be part of your first time, madam.”
I swatted the back of his head as lightly as my willpower allowed. “Stand up, DeSoto. Mazzy was watchingme. I’m the draw here.”
She laughed. “I’ve heard there’s noIin team.”
“Total myth.” I slipped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her into my side. “Are you ready to get out of here? Our girl is knocked out. We should get her home.”
I made eye contact with Murph as I said this, and the dillweed had the audacity to chuckle and shake his head like something was funny.
He waved at Mazzy. “Nice talking to you again, Mazz. Think you’ll be back?”
She looked up at me. “If Ben invites me, sure.”
“If he doesn’t, hit me up,” he offered. “You’re always welcome to come see me.”
I tugged her even closer, practically lodging her in my armpit. “She’s covered. You don’t need to worry about Mazzy.”
He raised both hands as he backed away. “Message received.” He shot me a wink. “Have fun, you crazy kids.”
Mazzy wiggled out from under my arm and rounded on me, her brow furrowed. “You’re acting very strange.”
Murphy was long gone, so I could finally focus on the confused woman in front of me. God, she was beautiful. Her long hair scooped back in a ponytail, wearing jeans and the Mountain Lions T-shirt I’d given her, she made my heart thump.
